Two out of three wasn’t good enough for the Emporia AAAs at the Mike’s Classic over the weekend.
The AAAs posted a 2-1 record at their home tournament, but it wasn’t enough to advance them to Sunday’s four-team bracket play.
“It’s disappointing to not go on when you get two wins,” Emporia infielder Alex Reyes said. “We played one bad game, but that’s how it is.”
Emporia won its first game on Saturday — a 14-5 decision over Wichita — before losing the nightcap, 12-2, to Smoky Valley.
Despite winning their first two games in the Classic, the AAAs finished third in their five-team pool behind both Smoky Valley and Olathe South.
“It’s frustrating, but if we win that third game, we’re in,” Emporia coach Ryan Oden said. “We controlled our own destiny.”
Emporia couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity, falling behind early before helping out the Redbirds late.
Smoky Valley took a 3-1 lead after two innings, connecting for four hits off Emporia’s starter, Reyes.
“I wasn’t feeling that bad out there,” Reyes said. “They were a good hitting team, and they didn’t try to pull my outside pitches.
“My stuff was all right. You just have to give them credit.”
Meanwhile, the Emporia bats couldn’t get much going against Redbird starter Blake Warner.
Taylor Clark scored Emporia’s run in the first, reaching on an error and later coming home on an RBI single from Jonathan Hrabik.
The AAAs’ only other tally came in the third, as Jared Krause came around after leading off the inning with a double.
Smoky Valley added two more in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead, then put things away in the top of the sixth.
The Redbirds used two hits and three Emporia errors in a seven-run frame, with all those runs coming off Hrabik in relief.
“Hrabik was all right. He did his job. The defense just collapsed,” Reyes said. “I don’t know if we dozed off or what.”
“It was a snowball effect,” Oden said. “That was a point where we needed to stop the bleeding, and we didn’t do it.”
Emporia was held scoreless in its half of the sixth, enforcing the eight-after-five run rule.
The AAAs fell behind Smoky Valley in the pool because of the teams’ head-to-head matchup, while Olathe South leap-frogged Emporia in the standings because of the runs-allowed tiebreaker.
Olathe South allowed eight runs in its three games, while Emporia gave up 18.
In their first game Saturday, the AAAs overcame a 5-1 deficit to take the 14-5 victory.
Emporia posted seven runs in the fourth to take the lead, then added six more in the fifth for good measure.
The AAAs were led by the top of the order, as the No. 1-4 hitters combined to go 9-for-12 with eight runs scored.
Hrabik led the way, going 3-for-4 with two runs. Krause, Clark, Stone and Reyes all contributed two hits.
Krause also picked up the victory on the mound.
Ottawa went on to win the Classic, defeating Smoky Valley 13-7 in the championship game.
Emporia (13-10) will play in the Blue Springs (Mo.) Tournament starting on Wednesday.
“We just need to keep pressing on,” Oden said. “We ran into a good team this tournament, but now it’s time that we get back to playing our type of baseball.”
Mike’s Classic
Saturday at Emporia
Game One
Emporia 14, Wichita 5
Emporia AAAs 100 76X X — 14 13 3
Wichita 050 00X X — 5 2 5
W — Jared Krause. L — Cory Rider.
2B — Emporia: Taylor Clark, Jared Krause, Alex Reyes, Jonathan Hrabik, Harrison Stone. HR — Wichita: Lucas Hall.
Emporia highlights — Jonathan Hrabik 3-4, 2B, 2R; Jared Krause 2-3, 2B, 3R; Taylor Clark 2-2, 2B, 2R; Harrison Stone 2-4, 2B, 2R; Alex Reyes 2-3, 2B, R.
Game Two
Smoky Valley 12, Emporia 2
Smoky Valley 120 027 X — 12 10 4
Emporia AAAs 101 000 X — 2 4 3
W — Blake Warner. L — Alex Reyes.
2B — Smoky Valley: Lance Pfannenstiel, E.J. Schrag; Emporia: Jared Krause, Harrison Stone. 3B — Smoky Valley: Josh Hoefler.
Emporia AAA highlights — Harrison Stone 2-3, 2B; Jared Krause 1-3, R; Jonathan Hrabik 1-3, RBI.